The US is Imposing its Views and Deciding For Kenya
Context
Democracy is (or should be) a form of government in which policy decisions are influenced by the Majority of the population. However, this is not what Washington has been doing with its ally Kenya. An article published in the East African (here) ran a revealing title, “US pushes Nairobi into anti-Houthi campaign as EA peer steer clear.” The heading reveals that Washington is influencing Kenya’s policy instead of the citizens doing so. In addition to this push, the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin proceeded to announce that Kenya was working with the US to address the Red Sea and Ukraine crises; was he also speaking for Kenya? January 2024 article by CNBC (here) also admitted to Washington’s coercion of allies and urged change to ‘persuasion’ but apparently in vain. From the foregoing, there is no democracy in Washington’s camp as allies are forced to adopt an American-fashioned tunnel vision.
US Modus Operandi; Lying and Bribing
Amidst ongoing crises in the international arena, one would expect all governments to seek balanced information as a basis for sound policy, but Washington and its allies are pursuing the formers’ failed strategies, concerning the ongoing war in Ukraine, Israeli-Gaza war, and US-Houthis standoff in the Red Sea. Kenya’s populace has no interest in these wars which Washington created. Therefore, the Kenyan government should let the US address its misadventures in the interest of democracy. Kenya, as the so-called US ally is unwilling or unable to stand against Washington’s dictations, and instead amplify Washington’s talking points, and interests while omitting or denying inconvenient truths concerning the Haiti, the Red Sea, Palestine, and Ukraine.
The Kenyan Government experiences backlash at home after agreeing to send 1000 police officers to Haiti, after probably being bribed by Washington. The High Court of Kenya had ruled such deployment illegal (here) as the Kenyan constitution does not envision the police service being deployed outside the republic. One scholar, who also sat on the committee that drafted the new constitution, questioned the wisdom of sending police service to other countries while Kenya experiences a shortage (here). He noted that Kenya’s ratio of the police to citizenry fell below the UN recommendation, which made Washington’s request to Kenya, allegedly through the UN, misguided. He also noted Washington’s financial inducement of Kenya Shillings 14 billion, (here) which shows that when Washington is not misrepresenting the truth, it is bribing clients state to follow along with unpopular and illegal policies. This cannot be democracy and must be called out for what it is; Washington’s political meddling.
US Deceitful stand on Houthis
On 7th February 2024, the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that Kenya had joined other nations to defend the Red Sea from Houthi rebels and to assist Ukraine. Ukraine and the Red Sea crises have become another of Washington’s sideshows to distract allies’ attention away from their interests, and instead join the US to pursue its increasingly failing prospect of global domination. Citizen’s interests are set aside, such that Lloyd Austin, an American citizen with no role in the Kenyan government was announcing to Kenyans, hence extending the American dictatorship from coercing to talking for allies; the American democracy for you. In Austin’s company was Kenya’s Defense Cabinet Secretary, Adan Duale, (a devout Muslim who in the past even clashed with the chief Kadhi and purported to know matters of moon sighting better than the head of this religious group) was not bothered by how Austin’s policy was genociding Palestinian Muslims, and that Houthis were only trying to help fellow Muslims. Instead, Duale was willing to view the evolving crises through Washington’s tunnel vision that focuses solely on the Houthis and conceals Israel’s and the US’s illegal actions in Gaza, Lebanon, or Iraq.
Supporting Ukraine
Washington is openly meddling in Kenyan politics and illegally influencing policy towards Ukraine, noting that the Kenyan parliament has never debated the subject. Most Kenyans do not think the matter is a priority, as it has not been featured in the media or social media as being important to the masses. Despite this, Lloyd Austin, as seen earlier, announced Kenya’s support for Ukraine’s Contact Group, of about 50 countries that have stopped minding their business and followed Washington’s lead. I highly doubt whether the Kenyan government can provide any meaningful assistance to Ukraine if all the backing from the US and EU is counting to naught. Supporting Ukraine is another tunnel vision that the Kenyan Government has chosen to follow, as opposed to letting Washington address its imperial overreach alone. The US meddled in Ukraine’s political affairs from as early back as 2004 (here) and continued to 2014 precipitating a coup. The coup brought leaders handpicked by Victoria Nuland to power, as can be noted in her leaked phone call to the then-US ambassador to Ukraine, Mr. Geoffrey Pyatt (here). Therefore, all the responsibility for the atrocities committed by Ukraine’s regime handpicked by the US should be left to Washington to address. Kenya and other countries should let Ukraine and Washington face a Russia’s response for committing atrocities against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east and the south of Ukraine since 2014. Instead, Washington’s allies and vassals are being led to bankrupt themselves supporting its overindulgence and misadventure that will also not change the course of the war.
Washington Attempts to erase the Genocide in Gaza?
Washington and its Disciples in Nairobi are disregarding the reality that they are the course of the problem, and that Houthis only resulted to attacking Israeli-bound vessels after Washington-backed Israel declined to lift its medieval blockade against Gazans. Houthis also attacked US vessels in retaliation after the US and UK bombed Yemen. Evidence is seen here; on December 9th, 2023, the Houthis threatened to target all vessels headed to Israel, if Israel did not lift its blockade against Gaza and allow food and medicine in. The group had not attacked any vessels, but Washington and Israel decided to ignore the warning, probably knowing they would lie to their client regimes to target Houthis instead of obeying the international law. Despite the Preliminary ICJ’s ruling ordering Israel to stop Genocide against Palestinians (here), and media reports that close to 30,000 Gazans have been killed, the US and its allies are conveniently omitting this reality in their policy as seen in the excerpt by Kenya concerning Houthis action “We condemn these attacks and demand an end to them. We also underscore that those who supply the Houthis with the weapons to conduct these attacks are violating UN Security Council Resolution 2216 and international law” (here). The statement strips all the context from the event while trying to spin the matter to deny justice to Palestinians, and Justifying Washington’s savage attacks on Yemen. The US is violating international law and enlisting its client states to follow it, while ignoring its role in supporting Israeli genocide against Gazans. If there was any democracy in Washington’s camp, participants would have stopped the genocide, but that is not the case.
Simon Chege Ndiritu, is a political observer and research analyst from Africa, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”